Anonymity Round
by PoisonBanana
Summary: (Collab with RioA, PainX65, zephryr, and Lupus Overkill) 16 Ultimates awaken to discover they are confined in a mysterious complex engulfed by an eternal blizzard. As the lights get dimmer, so too do their chances of survival. In a game where everyone is hiding their true selves, is it even possible to trust anyone? (SYOC Closed)
1. Form and Intro

She felt shivers go down her spine.

Huh? Where was she? The young woman didn't know, but she decided to observe her surroundings.

The first thing that immediately caught her attention was what she was wearing. " _Huh? A suit? Why am I wearing a suit?"_ She soon realized that the suit hid her entire figure from her: feet, legs, body and head! Nobody would be able to recognize her at all!

Properly looking around, she noticed that she was in some sort of entrance room. She wrinkled her nose in disdain at the bland scenery surrounding her. It was all… rusty and grey, hardly attractive if the woman said so herself.

She gagged a little as she breathed into her mask. " _A gas mask?"_ Just where was she?

The young woman prided herself for her ability to stay optimistic in the most mysterious of times, but these circumstances were too alien. It scared her.

She was alone.

Completely and utterly alone.

She started breathing in and breathing out slowly, trying to calm herself down. However, that only seemed to have made it worse. She started breathing quicker and quicker and quicker until she was full out hyperventilating!

The woman's eyes rushed around the room for a way out, quickly scanning around. Looking around the room, she noticed five sides, each with a steel sliding door. She tried the first one, straining her hands and pushing at it again. Nothing gave. She ran and tried the second door, but once again, the door did not give. She ran to try the third door, making a confused attempt to push it open, only for the doors to open as she tried to force it open.

The new room was a simple square, but the woman noticed something immediately at the center of it: a spiral staircase in the center of it that looked like it led outside.

The confused woman made a split second decision and rushed down the stairs out of the entrance hall, only to be met with a blizzard of snow as she was attacked in all directions. " _Where is this snow coming from!?"_ The only reason she didn't consider the possibility of dying from hypothermia was because the suit she wore kept her surprisingly toasty.

She widened her eyes in utter shock at the scene in front of her.

The building she had just left seemed to be standing on stilts, propping it high up in the air. However, the stranger thing was the structure on the ground. A tall, metal dome stood up in front of her, although she could see no entrance to it from where she was standing. More importantly, a set of barbed wire fences extended out from the dome, splitting the place into five different zones. She also saw some power lines extending out from other sections of the dome, going out into the distance.

She concluded that that it would be best not to try climbing the barbed wire fence right now and turned her attention to the area she could access, trying to assess what little she could see in the distance. She saw a set of what looked to be two long lines of steel trailers, each with a metal door with small set of stairs coming up to it. A scanner was set next to each door.

She didn't take time to admire the glittering snow as it sparkled in the moonlight. She only had one objective in mind. " _I've gotta find someone else!"_ With that determined thought, she bravely hunted around for any other forms of life. Human or not.

She started making her way down the line of doors to the right, trying her hand on each of the scanners. Each one seemed to repeat the same, "Access denied, " before locking her out of the room. Nevertheless, she persisted down the line, despite her growing annoyance. She was reluctant to explore that much, feeling this sinister sense of danger that she couldn't place. She felt vulnerable, unprotected. Even so, she persisted down the line. One by one, she tried the doors on the right side, but none of them got the result she wanted.

As she reached the eighth trailer on her current side, she tried placing her hand against the scanner again, this time receiving a new reply.

The scanner sounded out a new message, commanding, "Please report to the Dining Hall for orientation at the next convenient time; you will need to go through orientation to access your living quarters."

Pausing in confusion for a moment, she took in the scanner's words, appraising them.

" _The dining hall? If there's going to be an orientation, there should be other people there!"_

The woman puffed out some anxious air she'd been keeping pented up and looked around again, scanning her surroundings for any new buildings she could find that matched what she was looking for. She couldn't help but take notice of the bright moon in the sky. A few lights seemed to be dancing in the sky, forming a dim but noticeable aurora.

She took comfort in the fact that there appeared to be something pretty in this otherwise gloomy dump.

Suddenly, her ears perked. " _Are those… voices?"_ With a brimming surge of excitement, she began running in the direction of the voices. She was certain that they must have been heading in the direction of the dining hall.

Finally, she saw it in the distance. In comparison to the worn out hub on stilts, the new building, the suspected dining hall, seemed futuristic and sleek. Like the hub, the building was on stilts, albeit much shorter ones. It seemed to be made mostly of steel, with glass windows on the sides for visibility. The structure was a rectangle with rounded corners, except for the elevator shaft leading up to it.

She ran for the hall, waving for someone inside. Another person in a suit seemed to notice and pointed her out to the others, who started looking with anticipation.

The young woman pressed the elevator door and began waiting, her nerves slightly subsiding with the discovery that she was not alone in her situation. Her breathing slowed as the elevator doors opened and she stepped inside and the doors closed. A moment of relief came over her as the elevator rose towards the others in the dining hall.

The elevator stopped, and she waited for the doors to open.

Finally the doors opened, and the eager woman wasted no time as she tried her best to walk in a dignified manner, but found it difficult due to the immense relief that she really wasn't alone!

Despite the others not being able to see it, she gave them a carefree smile.

"Looks like I'm not alone after all!"

* * *

 **Yup, you read that summary right! Welcome to Anonymity Round, a collaboration between myself, RioA, PainX65, zephryr, and Lupus Overkill. I think it would be for the best if each of us had a word about this exciting new project! As well as some introductions, heh.**

 **PoisonBanana: What to say about me? I have another story on this site, 'Redemption and Retribution'. I also send in a lot of OCs to stories, so you might have seen me around a few times. For the most part, unless otherwise stated, the author's notes you read will be written by me. I'm kinda the general manager of this team, hence why it's being published on my account.**

 **RioA: Um… Hello! As some of you may know, my name is RioA, or Rio for short. I'm currently writing Disparity and Act of Despair on this site, so if you've heard of any of those stories, then that's from me. Um, anyways, I just want to let you all know that we all hope you're excited for this story, and I hope you will all pitch in to either read this story, send in a character, or etc.! I'm just here to pitch in ideas, edit, read, etc.- if you need to know my role. Haha, well, hope you'll all enjoy this story!**

 **PainX65: I'm Pain, some call me Best Boi or Pow, etc. I'm just Some Random Stranger, you might have seen me in the reviews or submitting OCs to other SYOC stories (danganronpa or other fandoms) or you might have seen my own SYOC: Scrapyard of Talent or one of my other stories in different fandoms,** **and I do plan on finishing/making more stories and SYOCs in the future** **. I don't know what to really say here, but I'm excited to be a part of this collab with our collective daughter. I don't even know my role ;-; but I'll help the story in any way I can from writing, beta reading, or touching up some stuff, the works.**

 **zephryr: Thanks for anyone who is reading this! I've been in the fandom for a while, but I haven't submitted many OC's. You might know me as an analytical reviewer… From RioA's story anyways. I tried making a SYOC once, but I chickened out. So now that I'm part of a team, I'm hoping to contribute to the best of my abilities! Currently, my position on the team is the lead writer. This doesn't mean I won't work in other departments though!**

 **Lupus Overkill: Hey, everyone. I'm Lupus Overkill, longtime Fanfiction lurker. I don't have any stories on this site, but you might have seen some of my OCs submitted to other people's stories before. Right now, my main role on the team has been oriented towards editing and research, although I plan to contribute in the writing department as well. I helped out on the final draft for this chapter, in fact.**

 **What a bunch of jokers. Anyway, enough of that. Now for the rules! You have to follow the rules to a T. If you don't, know that your OC more likely than not will be rejected.**

 **RULE 1: No Mary Sue type characters. I would think this goes without saying, but you can never be to careful. If you send one in, it will be rejected. We will also laugh at you.**

 **RULE 2: Absolutely do not send in your character through the reviews. Everyone can see it and your whole character would be spoiled.**

 **RULE 3: All OCs must be sent to me via PM. Title your PM 'Anonymity Round - Your OC's Name'. This is to help keep everything organized.**

 **RULE 4: Please, for the love of all that is good, remove the stuff in parenthesis from the form when you send it in.**

 **RULE 5: Due to the nature of this story, your OC has only a slim chance of surviving to the end. Understand that them dying is a likely outcome and please do not complain if it happens.**

 **RULE 6: This story is not a first come first serve affair. Not in the slightest. You have a deadline of** **three weeks** **to send in your character. After that has passed, myself and my collaborators will decide on who gets in.**

 **RULE 7: Under no circumstances will we take any character that is currently in another story. It is incredibly disrespectful and rude. Between the five of us, we will know if you try it. Please do not submit characters that are currently pending acceptance to another story either. However, we will accept characters that were rejected from another story or were used in a story that was later discontinued. However, we advise that if your character is in the latter category, confirm that the story has been explicitly discontinued before submitting your character.**

 **RULE 8: In addition to not wanting to see recycled OCs in our story, we don't want to see the OCs you have in this story being used elsewhere. If we catch them in another story, they will be killed unceremoniously. Immediately.**

 **RULE 9: You may send in no more than 2 OCs.**

 **Anonymity Round Form**

 **Name:** (Please keep it Japanese)

 **Age:** (16-19)

 **Gender:** (Male and Female)

 **Sexuality:** (Straight, Gay, Bi)

 **Talent:** (No canon talents)

 **Appearance:** (Physical, hair, eyes, height, etc.)

 **Personality:** (One paragraph minimum, four maximum.)

 **History:** (One paragraph minimum, four maximum.)

 **Mental/Physical Health Issues:** (Does your character have any mental or physical health issues? If so, write it here. Can be 'none' if it isn't applicable.)

 **Speech:** (Describe to us how they talk.)

 **Quirks:** (Are there any habits that they consistently do?)

 **Likes:** (Around three to five)

 **Dislikes:** (Around three to five.)

 **Fears:** (Do they have an extreme phobia? Saying none doesn't make them fearless, they just won't have a specific fear.)

 **Secrets:** (Can be as trivial or severe as you want. Whatever it is, your OC does not want anyone to know about it.)

 **Hobbies:** (What do they like to do in their freetime?)

 **People They Like:** (What types of people would they get along with?)

 **People They Dislike:** (What types of people would they not get along with?)

 **Romantic Interest?:** (Who, if anyone, would your OC fall for?)

 **Motives to Kill?:** (What would push them to kill someone?)

 **Victim Justification?:** (Why would they make a good victim?)

 **Blackened Justification?:** (Why would they make for a good killer?)

 **Survivor Justification?:** (Why do you think they might live to the end?)

 **Mastermind Justification?:** (Why are they the possible mastermind?)

 **Free Time Event Ideas:** (List off a few things that could be done during FTEs.)

 **Execution Ideas:** (If you can, how do you see your character going if they're the blackened?)

 **Quotes:** (Give us at least five quotes to get a feel for your character.)

 **Other:** (Anything we forgot, or didn't fit anywhere else? Put it here!)

 **I'll also copy this form onto my profile for ease of access. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to leave them in the reveiws or send one of us a PM. We will try to get back to you as soon as we can! Good luck everyone, and have fun!**

 **Submitted Talents:**

Florist

Horror Concept Artist

Priest

Makeup Artist

Electrician

Tailor

Scriptwriter

Goth-Rocker

Thief

Reader

Casting Agent

Explosives Engineer

Chocolatier

Profiler

Smuggler

Butoh Dancer

Chemist

Parkourist

Spiritual Healer

Astronomer

Forest Ranger

Entrepreneur

Interrogator

Audiobook Narrator

Ringleader

Fighter Pilot

Strategist

Cover Artist

Racer

Mangaka

Roboticist

True Crime Author

Police Officer

Mnemonist

Matchmaker

Negotiator

Dealer

Tour Guide

Bounty Hunter

 **Submitted Genders:**

Male: 22

Female: 17


	2. Meet the Cast

"Yeah, you aren't alone, but is that all you're concerned about?" Someone wearing a similar suit to me asked. I noticed in particular it was almost identical to mine, the only difference I observed was that they had a letter on the forehead of their mask. More specifically, it was the letter 'T'.

"N-no! I'm concerned about our whereabouts too, but I'm just so happy to not be alone!" I explained hurriedly, not wanting the only other people here to misunderstand.

Someone else spoke. "That is understandable. It is doubtful that anyone would want to be alone in a situation like this." They had the letter 'I' on their helmet.

A few of the other people began chatting between themselves.

"I'm thinking the floor…"

"No way! Definitely the walls!"

"The ceiling is way cooler though!"

I was confused. What was everyone talking about? Oh well, it didn't matter much, I wasn't alone anymore!

"I guess I should introduce myself to you all! I'm-"

"Hold it right there, bitch!"

I jumped in surprise as I looked around the room, trying to find the source of that voice. I stared at where the voice was, dumbfounded at what I was seeing. This black and white plush bear appears to have jumped down from the ceiling… somehow.

"Ha! I knew I'd be right! Pay me when we get out of here, boys~!" A girlish voice spoke quickly as she bumped both people next to her with her elbows, the letter 'M' on her forehead. The others, with the letters 'B' and 'V' grumbled as they admitted defeat.

"W-What's going on!?" I stammered out, staring at the bear.

"First and foremost toots, no name revealing! Nu-uh, not allowed, forbidden!" The black and white bear shouted out at me childishly.

"What!? Why!?" I yelled back at the inanimate object.

"Cuz it's part of the game~!" It bounced excitedly at it's own remark.

"What game!?" I questioned, only being a little aggressive…

Suddenly, the black and white bear waddled up to me and gestured for me to crouch down to its height. I obliged, as if it was going to tell me some huge secret. It leaned its mouth towards my ear and whispered to me.

"Your name is Echo, do not forget that… And don't you dare reveal your actual name or talent. There will be dire consequences if you do." It whispered sinisterly into my ear. I shivered, goosebumps forming on my arms. Too bad I couldn't comfort them.

I nodded in understanding.

"Good, good! With that out of the way, I'll let you introduce yourself to everyone else!" It said cheerfully, disappearing into the floor.

"W-wait! What's your name!?" I cried out, but the bear was already gone.

"That thing hasn't told us either, we're all in the same boat, so don't worry your pretty little head, alright?" Someone told me gently, with what I assume to be a comforting voice. They had the letter 'R' on their forehead.

I took a deep breath to calm myself down. "Yeah, you're right, thanks." I smiled kindly. They didn't see it, but I think they could sense it since they chuckled before moving away.

I guess I'm suppose to introduce myself to everyone now?

The first person I introduced myself to had the letter 'Z' on their forehead. They were standing off to the side, not looking at anyone. It was as if they were trying to avoid social interaction. If that is the case, I should introduce myself as quickly as possible and learn their name too.

I approached the figure, who slouched when they saw me coming. "God fucking dammit… What the hell do you want, bitch?" The voice said. It was rather husky, but I could tell there was a feminine tinge to it, concluding that she must've been a female.

However, I wasn't too focused on that as I recoiled in surprise. I couldn't believe she had the audacity to actually swear at a complete stranger! I frowned in annoyance, my neck getting a little warmer.

"That isn't a nice thing to say, I'm only here for introductions! My name's Echo, what about you?" I tried to calm her down by being polite and using a placid tone, but if anything that only made her angrier.

"None of your fucking damn business!" She snarled, turning her back towards me.

I clenched my fists in frustration. Who the hell does she think she is? Swearing at others when they're being kind to her, how tiresome. I decided that my next tactic would be to simply wait for her to cave.

It was silent between the two of us. I could tell the girl was starting to crack as she started moving around on the spot. Finally, she growled and caved in.

"Fine! If you want to know so fucking badly! The name's Zulu, however, you'll refer to me as Ms. Zulu; no questions asked. Now piss off and choke on a pile of shit." Zulu snarled in disgust, walking off.

I just stood there dumbfounded. That could've gone better… But I couldn't help but wonder what made her like that?

Sitting alone on one of the chairs within the room was a person with a 'D' on the forehead of their mask. Hopefully they were more polite than Zulu.

I decided to approach 'D', and I don't know if it was because they were sitting, but they seemed to be short. Compared to the others here, they seemed to be shorter than normal. In their hands, appeared to be a notebook or one of those visual artbooks. A pencil rested in their hands, as they tapped on the page, yet they almost seemed to have lost something, maybe an eraser?

"Um, hello?" In response to my greeting, their head popped up, but they didn't say anything for a few seconds, more gripping their pencil and looked back down, scribbling something on their book before turning it around and showing me the page.

On it, it read: "Hello, I'm Delta." Oh, oh! Was Delta perhaps mute? Or maybe just super shy to the point of being a taciturn?

"Hello, Delta, I'm Echo!" I almost forgot to introduce myself there for a second.

Delta then flipped the page, and began to write some more. Now it read: "Nice meeting you, Echo~." I couldn't help but notice that the handwriting was quite cute, if a little rushed.

"It's nice to meet you too!" I replied, but before I could really say goodbye, I felt Delta's gloved hand pull on the sleeve of my suit, getting my attention back as they got their notebook.

Delta held the notebook up again, but this time with a much more worn and used page, as if Delta had used it more than the other ones. It read: "Can we talk again?" However, there were a lot of scribbled out letters when writing this one out.

"Of course!" I nodded, almost immediately after reading it. Delta didn't write anything, yet their body did most of the talking for them. Delta looked relieved. Something within me compelled me to pat Delta's head for some reason. After patting Delta's head, I decided to look around for the next person to talk too.

There was another person I saw standing around by themselves. They had a 'P' on their forehead and gave me a small wave when I walked over. I decided to take the initiative and introduce myself first. "Hey there, I'm Echo. What should I call you?"

"Echo huh? Makes sense with the 'E' on your head." It was apparent very quickly that despite his tall stature, this guy seemed rather soft spoken. "Oh, I'm Papa. At least, that's my name here."

"Papa's your name? Are you like a dad then?"

"N-No, nothing of the sort. I haven't a clue why that is my chosen moniker." He waved his hands as if to distance himself from my playful banter.

"I'm just kidding around, you seem a bit young to be a dad after all." I hope I didn't make him upset or anything. I was just trying to get him to laugh or something. Maybe he's a shy guy?

"Oh okay. That's fine." I was waiting a bit for him to say anything else, but he didn't seem to have anything to add.

"Well I'm gonna go and meet the others now if that's fine." I gave him a wave and began walking away.

"Ok, be careful." How nice of him!

"Uh-huh! You too!" Papa seems nice, but I feel I'll need to spend some time with him if I want to find out more about him. Before I could think more about Papa, another person came bouncing up to me excitedly.

The next person to introduce themselves had an 'M' on their forehead. I recognized them as the one that won that 'bet' when I entered. "Ello! I'm Mike!" They were certainly chipper and spoke pretty fast, and judging from the sound of the somewhat distorted voice it seems Mike was, indeed, female. She is just under my height, and if she wasn't standing right in front of me, I could have sworn we were the same height.

It seemed that she was still a bit bouncy from the betting earlier. I guess I should introduce myself to her. "Hello! I'm Echo!" I greeted with a warm smile, it was kind of useless because of the mask though. "I see you were betting with 'B' and 'V'?"

"Oh? That? Ah, it's nothing to worry much about." Mike waved her hand. "Just something to ease our boredom is all."

It didn't look like there was much to do here anyway, and I guess a game of I Spy would've gotten boring real quick in our location. "So, um, is that the only thing to do here? Betting I mean?"

Upon asking, Mike seemed to sway a little to the sides in thought, humming all the while. "Well, it's the only thing that stays interesting with the bear earlier." she then spoke up. "But I suppose there's games like I Spy and Scissors-Paper-Rock. They got real boring after the first hour though."

First hour? Just how long have they all been here? "So you woke up outside right?" Mike jumped to another topic as I nodded. "The suits are pretty warm, aren't they?"

"It is, when I was outside, it was pretty warm. I didn't feel much of the cold outside." that was good to know, that these suits had some heat in them. "It was quite toasty." Mike just nodded at what I had to say.

"And the snowstorm is pretty wild too." I was about to reply, but Mike had jumped the topic again. "Shame, we can't reveal ourselves, got to keep tabs on Bravo and Victor. Hard to do that until we are finally allowed to take these suits off."

"For the betting right? Do you know what you're going to get?" Mike shrugged at my words. Wait, Bravo and Victor? Well it makes sense.

"I don't know, but I'm going to make sure I get my winnings when we get out of here." Speaking of which, where exactly are we?

"Um, Mike." I got the girl's attention. "Do you know, where we are?"

Mike took a second to think about that. "Asides from the snow? Not really. I got a few ideas though, but I think that bear might tell us when the game starts. Wonder what type of game that is, it only told us one rule for the game, so there should be more."

A game with a walking, talking, teddy bear. I don't really know what to think of this, honestly.

"Well, Echo, I suppose I shouldn't keep you any longer!" Oh? Oh, that's right, I still have the others to introduce myself to. "Nice meeting you, Echo!"

"Nice meeting you too, Mike!" She seemed fun to be around, she probably felt a bit odd with the codename Mike though.

Mike left and it was time to go and introduce myself to someone else. I approached a person with an 'I' on the forehead of their masks. "Hello, I'm Echo!" I introduced myself. The person with the mask 'I' seemed to be an inch shorter than me.

"Nice to meet you, Echo." The person with 'I' on their mask greeted, another girl from the sounds of it. "I'm India. Good to meet you."

India sounded quite friendly, kind of like Mike, but in a more sober kind of friendliness if I had to put my finger on it. Speaking about putting my finger on something, India seemed to dislike her codename from the earlier greeting, I almost missed the way she said her codename.

Then again, it didn't really sound like they truly disliked it either. I could tell that they said their codename in different way, but I have no idea what. Now that I think about it, it could just be the voice distortion from the masks.

"Oh yeah, Echo, I got something to tell you." She looked around at the others as I smiled, once again useless thanks to my mask. "Just be a bit careful with a few of the others."

I tilted my head to the side as the confusion on my face wouldn't be seen. "And why's that?" I asked. "Is there something wrong?"

India shook her head. "No, there's nothing wrong per say. I mean, there's a few people here that aren't...the best."

"Like being shy or socially awkward?"

"Well, that wasn't what I was going for, but yes, there are a few like like that." India nodded along.

"Then what did you mean?"

"I don't want to ruin your impressions of the others, but some, not all, are a bit...out there in terms of personalities, you might of already talked to some of them in fact." The way India said that, it carried a maternal tone with it, despite the obvious voice distortion that made me think that it could be taken in other ways. "But I suppose my views might ruin your impressions as well, you might want to discard that thought until after you introduce yourself to the others." She added nonchalantly.

I nodded. "Thanks for the advice anyway, India." I then gave her a wave. "I'll talk to you later!"

"Very well then, see you later." She seemed to be quite sensible.

The next person I approached after leaving India had a 'T' on their mask and was sitting down on a pretty basic chair. They were the one from earlier that asked about my concerns, and they were definitely shorter than me by I guess two inches. "Hey, I'm Echo-" I tried introducing myself, but all I got out was my codename.

"The name's Tango!" They said, their distorted voice revealed that they were most likely male as he was not really looking at me, but was messing with something on the table. I had no idea what it was, but I could tell that it was a mix-match of different things that were probably from this very room actually. "Eh?" He looked down at his frankenstein-esque creation before chucking it into the trash bin.

"Um, what was that?" Tango titled his head up to me.

"Just a mix-match of junk. Waste of time, actually." He seemed to be self-confident young man, I could tell that much, who was fine with going about his own pace, which seemed to be a fast one as he was thinking of another 'waste of time'. "Oh yeah, you're the sixteenth one, aren't ya?"

"Um, I think so?" A quick look around at the others and I'd probably agree with that. "Do you know anything about that bear?" Just what was that thing?

"Hm? The bear? Oh yeah." He spun around to face me fully. "Well, not _all_ the details of course. I have to say, it's pretty interesting to observe honestly. At first, it was quite boring here until that bear showed up." I assume he was still thinking of the bear when he went quiet.

"That gives me an idea." He spoke up, speaking faster, much like Mike in a way. "I need to write it down!" Tango sprung up from his spot.

"Where are you going?" We only just started talking!

"Eh? Gonna go and talk to Delta real quick." Tango then left as I gave my goodbyes.

Tango never replied as he headed over to Delta. Leaving me standing here, alone. I suppose I should go, there were plenty of others left to talk to, but I was also curious to the 'junk' he had messed around with.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small figure with an 'A' on their forehead approaching right behind me from the left, as if to sneak up on me and catch me by surprise. They tried to reach around my shoulders to tap the right one, but as my face turned towards them, she stopped and slouched, as if disappointed.

The voice I heard next was immediately recognizable as a young girl's voice, whimpering, "Aw, I was hoping I could surprise you. I didn't mean any harm!"

I could immediately tell it was a girl, given the high-pitched, childish voice she had. It was a little annoying, but it was endearing, like a little kid almost. She was a few inches shorter than I am, only further enhancing the childlike impression I was getting. She had jumped back a bit, shocked that I'd seen her coming.

I replied to her. "It's fine, there's no harm in it. Just be careful, okay?"

The girl hesitated for a bit, as it weighing my answer in her head, and replied, "Okay~! " in a singsong, chipper manner. She then went quiet. She went to walk away, as if to go approach someone else, but I had no intent of ending this conversation before fully introducing myself, even if she seemed to have lost interest.

I called out to her, "By the way, I'm Echo. What's your name?"

The girl paused for a moment, then replied, "Alfa."

Alfa paused again, as if scared and unsure of what to say, then said, "You seem … okay. I could have some fun with you. Can we be friends? You seem really nice!"

I went to reply, "Of course! What would you want to — Ah!"

At that moment, a hand had came down onto my shoulder and started pulling me away from Alfa. Whoever had grabbed me was much stronger than I was, but I resisted, trying to keep my feet on the ground. Even so, I was being pulled away, however slowly.

I called out to whoever was pulling me. "Would you mind letting go of me for a second so we can talk normally?"

The pulling stopped, although the hand remained firmly on my shoulder, as if to keep me from getting away.

I heard a serious, calm voice that I assumed to be my assailant reply. "Fine, but stay here. There's something we need to talk about."

The hand let go, giving me the chance to turn around and see the one who had been pulling me along. The owner of the voice, which was clearly male, was a figure that was a little imposing. Although he wasn't that much taller than me, the way he had pulled me around gave me the impression he wasn't all that friendly. I couldn't help but notice the way his hands were clenched into fists now. My eyes finally went to his forehead to check the letter: a 'W'.

Having looked him over, I stepped back once and asked him, "Who are you?"

The man promptly replied to me. "Whiskey. I already know your name, Echo, so don't bother introducing yourself. There are several things I need to make sure you remember."

I asked, 'What?"

He motioned to a nearby table, guiding me to sit down on one of the benches. He, in turn, moved to sit on the side opposite to me.

He answered, speaking quietly to avoid being overheard, "First, about that girl you were talking to just now, Alfa — she's a troublemaker. You're best off ignoring her. She's been messing around with Victor and Papa ever since we got here. She's been nothing but a nuisance to everyone."

I replied, "She seems really sweet, though. She can't be that bad, right?"

Whiskey answered, "If you don't believe me, ask Victor and Papa. They'll have a lot to say about her."

Taking in his words and feeling my brow furrow, I said, "Even if she is kind of troublesome, that's not a good reason to isolate her! No one should be treated like that!"

Whiskey looked at me for a moment, as if appraising my words, then told me, "No, it's exactly what you should do. You're naive to think any other way, Echo. Scum that treats other people like that deserves to be excluded. And that's me being light on people like her."

I whispered back, trying not to raise my voice, "That's too cruel."

He promptly replied, "There are both truly good and truly evil people in this world, Echo. There is no in between. If you can't understand that, we're done here."

I stood there for a moment, astounded, almost angry at what he had just said. I could feel the blood rushing to my head.

Before I could do anything rash, I promptly got up and walked away from Whiskey's table, only giving him a single glance as I contemplated what I had just heard.

 _How could he ever view other people that way? What made him like that?_

Exhausted, I looked around, hoping someone would catch my eye. However, as I was looking for someone to approach, someone else had started to approach me, walking towards me from across the room. Although I was preoccupied with my own thoughts, I noticed her just as she started speaking to me.

"Hey, you seem down! Want to hang out and talk with me for a sec? We need to do introductions anyway."

The first thing that struck me about her was her voice; it was high and cheery. It was one of the warmest voices I'd ever heard, in fact. As I turned towards her, it struck me how small she was; she was almost a foot shorter than me, making her one of the shortest people in the room. The girl had the letter 'N' on her forehead. She gestured towards another table, far away from where I'd been talking with Whiskey only a few moments earlier. I followed her and sat down with her at the table.

She continued, "You're Echo, right? I've been really eager to introduce myself to you since you got here, so I'll get right into it."

The small girl pointed to herself and told me, "I'm November! It's great to meet you."

Finally getting my bearings back after my moment with Whiskey earlier, I replied, "It's great to meet you too."

My voice came out a little less happy than I'd been aiming for, and November caught on quickly, gesturing over the table I'd been talking with Whiskey moments earlier and asking, "What happened back there, Echo? I had some trouble telling with the masks, but whatever happened, you're obviously upset about it. Talk to me!"

Her offer surprised me, as I was much more used to listening to people and cheering them up than the other way around, but I decided my reply the moment I heard her offer.

"If you don't mind hearing me out, I'll tell you what happened, November."

November didn't hesitate, replying, "Okay, let's hear it!"

I started, "Well, it started when a guy pulled me away in the middle of a conversation with someone else—"

"Was he the one I saw you talking to just now?"

I answered, "Yeah. He went and scolded me for talking with the girl, of all things. Apparently she's a troublemaker because she played a few pranks, something like that. He said I should ignore her."

November interrupted, "You didn't want to do that, I assume?"

"Of course not, " I replied, " The girl I was talking to — Alfa's her name, if you didn't already know — seemed perfectly nice. I could see how she could get annoying, but I don't think that's a reason to exclude her. I think it set me off."

"So you're the sort of person who doesn't like excluding people then, " November murmured to herself.

"No, I don't like excluding people, and he was being so insistent about doing it too. He even tried to lecture me about how there is only 'good and evil', of all things. I just wanted to have a nice conversation with a person I was just meeting, is that too much to ask?!"

Feeling guilty for a moment, I told November, "Sorry if I'm rambling and getting angry, I'm still a little upset about the whole thing. The girl shouldn't be excluded over a prank, of all things."

November replied, "It's fine, it's fine, keep talking," reassuring me.

Contemplating my thoughts out loud, I continued, "I think the reason he upset me was because he assumed the girl would be so much trouble that she'd be excluded over what seems to be a few harmless pranks. Sure, she tried to do it to me, but it was one of those harmless 'tap people on the wrong shoulder so they look the wrong way' pranks. That's no reason to exclude the girl."

My thoughts continued brewing in my mind, as I thought about what to say next. My mind went write back to Whiskey's whole "good and evil" lecture that had prompted me to end the conversation like that.

I spoke up again, "Thinking about it now, we just couldn't see eye to eye. He seemed to view the worlds in terms of pure good and evil, and I just can't view people like that. I hate thinking of other people that way."

November replied, "And that's where you ended the conversation?"

"Yeah."

November thought for a moment, and then said, "You're a nice person, Echo, and I'm sorry you had to have that conversation with him. What he said was absolutely uncalled for and you were right to leave the conversation if you couldn't take it anymore."

November paused, seemed to look closely at me, and then asked, "Did that talk cheer you up, Echo?"

Thinking about it, I realized I did feel a little less tense, the furrow in my brow from earlier, that only I could see, was gone. My head and shoulders felt much lighter than they had just a minute or two earlier.

I replied, "A little. I think talking with you helped. There's something I want to ask you."

November immediately replied, "Ask away!"

I said, "I really enjoyed talking with you, November. Could we hang out again sometime?"

November replied, "I enjoyed it too! Come see me anytime, Echo!"

I got up and pushed myself away from the table, walking away and calling back, "I will!"

After I was done talking with November, I looked over to the next person. They had a 'K' on their forehead and was clearly a few inches shorter than me. They were probably just as tall as November was, they looked pretty close in height.

Well, I digress. "Hey there! My name's Echo. What's your name?"

"Ah, right, I haven't introduced myself to you." Judging from the voice, I think I'm talking to a girl. "My name's Kilo."

"I see. That's a nice name!"

Kilo nodded her head. "Shouldn't you go introduce yourselves to the others? I don't think you should waste time chatting with me."

"I don't think chatting with you is a waste of time. You seem like a really nice person to talk to!"

Kilo was idle, cracking her knuckles. "I think you shouldn't waste time here, Echo."

I could tell that Kilo was a no-nonsense type of person. She was blunt, straightforward, and right to the point.

At least she didn't seem to hold any ill-will towards me. I think that she's the type of person who is kind, but in a different way from what people would usually expect. I'll just talk to her later then. I want to know more about her and the others, after all!

"Alright!" I saluted the girl and looked over for the next person.

Well, I didn't have to look. Someone was approaching me anyways.

The person who was walking towards me had an 'R' on their forehead and stood a few inches taller than me, though it was not overly noticeable. They reached their hand out. "Greetings, I believe we haven't been acquaintanced with one another yet. May I have the pleasure of learning your name?"

Despite the distortion in this person's voice, I distinguished that this was a boy. Other than that, I instantly realized that this guy was flirting with me.

Ah, well, it's fine. I'm used to it anyways, given my work as a hostess!

"It's nice to meet you!" I began, chipper, as I grabbed ahold of the boy's hand and shook it, "My name's Echo. What's your's?"

The boy went silent for a moment, but quickly cleared his throat and spoke. "The name's Romeo, my angel."

I think I surprised him. He didn't expect me to sound so nonchalant, huh? Anyways, Romeo makes sense for his codename. That name reminds me of _Romeo and Juliet_ for some reason. I guess it's because Romeo's a flirt himself!

"My, my, may I say something quick?" Romeo released our handshake. "Echo, your voice is lovely despite the distortion. You must be truly a beautiful girl behind that disguise."

I chuckled. "Well, I do admit that I have gotten many compliments on my looks."

He nodded his head. "It is a shame that we must hide ourselves, even our own names. You must have a beautiful name, my sweet pea."

"That's sweet of you to say," I replied, indifferent in my chipper tone. "I think everyone's names are beautiful though, not only me! I'm sure you have an endearing name too."

Romeo was silent again. A few seconds passed before he continued, having cleared his throat. "You are quite the girl, my lovely. A delightful surprise with everyone here."

"Everyone's nice here though," I said. It wasn't entirely true, but I'm sure those others just need some warming up!

Romeo wagged his finger, back and forth, back and forth. "Lovely, you act quite differently to how others react to my compliments. It's quite a surprise, dear."

I laughed. "Pleasant though?"

The boy nodded. "Surely. I find myself attracted to your nonchalant behavior to my words. It is most baffling."

"Right." I smiled to myself. I knew Romeo was bewildered.

Romeo coughed. "Anyways, my dear sweet pea, we had quite the pleasant chat."

"Yeah, true." Honestly, it made me happy that he seemed to enjoy talking to me. "Well, I'll leave now! I want to introduce myself to the rest of the people here."

Romeo chuckled, bowing his head down. "Of course, milady."

Smiling, I continued my search. I looked around the room. It seemed that I'm almost done introducing myself to everyone!

Over to the right there was a person who I haven't introduced myself to yet. They had the letter 'B' and stood, clearly, taller than me. I had a fair idea on who 'B' was, but there could be two letter 'B's after all.

I made my way over to the person, waving. "Hey!"

The person looked toward my direction. "Yo."

"My name's Echo! What's your's?"

"Bravo, or so I've been told." From what I heard, I think a guy is speaking. "Seriously, what's up with this situation? Crazy, y'know?"

I would think that Bravo was worried, but instead it sounded like he didn't care. If anything, he was making light of this whole scene. "Yeah, true. I don't know why we're here, but I'm sure we'll figure it out soon!"

"We better, or else I'll die!" Bravo leaned to the side with a hand to his forehead, mocking faintness. A chuckle escaped his voice as he stood back in place. "It's fine. If it comes down to it, I'll lead us somewhere! I know I'll be able to help you guys out."

I laughed. "Really?"

"Yeah, I'm sure of it!" Bravo then crossed his arms. "You guys owe me one though. How about we all play board games at my place when we get out?"

"Board games sound fun!"

The boy made a thumbs-up. "Yup! I'm the best at them."

Bravo was a friendly person. I know that, but I couldn't help but notice that he's a bit overly confident in himself. Obnoxious, maybe? I don't mean it in a negative light though! Bravo's a genuinely kind person, and I could tell that from what he had said at the moment.

"Ugh, I seriously don't wanna be here." The boy was suddenly slouching, sighing in an overly dramatic manner. "This sucks…"

And I think he's a bit whiny. Over-dramatic even?

"Don't worry!" I cried, trying my best to comfort the boy. "I don't think anything bad will happen to us here anyways. Let's just wait a bit and see what happens before complaining."

"Ugh, fine." Bravo composed himself. "Is there anything here to do anyways? Board games? Anything?"

"Uh…" I scanned the area. "I don't think so right now, but it's fine! We can always chat together."

"I rather play board games, but chatting's fun I guess. It might bore me though, considering how fun you are." The boy sighed. "I still feel like I'm gonna die though… What a pain."

He's still being dramatic. I don't know whether to laugh or sigh. And was he trying insult me there or compliment me? I don't know.

Still, Bravo's pretty charming in his own right. He's pretty nice anyways!

"I really like talking to people, so I'm sure we'll have a lot to talk about!" I smiled, nodding my head quickly. "Everyone here's cool too, so I'm sure we won't be bored here for a while."

Bravo shrugged. "Maybe that strange bear will pop out somewhere soon then. Alright, sounds like a plan then."

We finished our little chat together, and so I continued my search for the rest of the people in this room.

I couldn't help but notice that there was someone standing by their lonesome off to the side. Their mask bore the letter 'U' on it, the only thing distinguishing them from me. Just like it was for everyone else. Well, aside from the fact they were a good few inches shorter than me. I walked over to them to introduce myself. "Hey there, I guess I'm Echo. Nice to meet you!"

They didn't respond right away. Maybe they're shy? Eventually I got a response from them, but it was rather short. "Hey. I'm Uniform."

The voice was a bit higher pitched, so I think I'm talking to a girl. "Uniform huh? Cool! Say, why're you off all by your lonesome? Don't wanna talk to the others?"

"I already gave my introductions. If anyone else wants to talk to me they know where I am."

Oh, she _was_ one of those loner types. "Why not go and talk to them instead? Most of them seem like a pretty decent bunch!"

Uniform shook her head to the side. "That's fine. I'm good here."

It didn't look like she was really enjoying her conversation with me. I think I will need to try harder with her once I see everyone else. "Okay, well if you ever wanna talk, hit me up sometime!"

She nodded, but something told me that she wasn't about to come and seek me out. Well that's fine, I'll just have to go to her! But later. I still need to meet everyone else!

"Little Uni didn't wanna play with you either huh? Yeah, I knew that'd happen!" As I was walking away from Uniform, someone walked over to me. They had a 'V' on their forehead and seemed pretty relaxed. I'm pretty sure I knew who this was too. "Name's Victor, in case you were wondering. Which I'm sure you were. Great to meet ya!"

At least he, I'm pretty sure he, seemed more approachable. "Same! I'm Echo! I hope we can get along!"

"Right on girl, we can totally have a good time together!" Victor gave me a thumbs up, and I imagine he smiled under his mask. "Well, we'd better anyway. I haven't seen jack shit around here as far as fun is concerned."

"Really? Nothing at all?" If we were here for a long time, things might get really stale if there was nothing to do. Well, I have fun just by talking at least, but something tells me that Victor needs a little more than just talking.

"Not a thing! I mean, there might be something in one of the locked areas, but I don't know for sure." He gave a long and drawn out sigh to exaggerate his boredom. "It's such a drag I tell ya. I need me some hype up in here!"

He started pumping his fist in the air and making some funny sounding noises of frustration and excitement. I think. It was entertaining to watch anyway, even if some of the others were staring. "Oh you know, that reminds me. Did Alfa do anything to you earlier? I heard that she might have."

Victor stopped with his silly display and hung his head low. "Yeah, that girl is a troublemaker. She told me there was some cake behind one of the doors and that I should get it. So I open the door and she pushes me into the snow! How cruel!"

I didn't have the heart to tell him that sounded like an obvious ruse. The poor fellow still seemed upset about his lack of cake. "Oh, well if I do find some cake, I'll be sure to let you know first, okay?" Hopefully that cheers him up!

"You would do that for me? Great!" Victor certainly bounces back quickly. "You get the cake, and I'll get the music, streamers, games, and just about everything you could ever need! We will have the biggest most bestest party the world has ever seen!" He laughed almost manically as he ran off to some other location to look for things. I hope I didn't set him up for anything on accident.

I took a quick scan around the room to see if there was anyone else I hadn't spoken to yet. I didn't have to look very long, the last person I needed to meet came up to me all on their own. "Oh hi there! You're Echo, right? Some of the others were talking about you."

I could tell that they were a boy from their voice, and it was quite a lovely voice too. "Yup, that's me! How about you? What's your name?" They had a 'J' on their helmet, so I imagine that it would start with a 'J', just like everyone else's have been.

My question seemed to embarrass him a little, he looked away and sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. "Just promise you won't laugh, okay?" I nodded. I could never laugh at someone's name after all. That would just be mean! "My name here is… Juliett."

Oh, I guess I can see why that would make him uncomfortable. "Well if it makes you feel any better, I like the name!"

"Really? Thanks."

I was half tempted to ask if he and Romeo had met yet, but something tells me he has heard that question a lot already, so I think I'll save it for later. "Of course! So, how are you doing?" It was a simple way to break the somewhat awkward atmosphere, and it seemed to work.

"Oh, aside from being in some frozen wasteland that I've never seen before, it's going quite well. At the very least, the company seems pretty decent!" He had a good point, why were they here anyway?

"Yeah, most everyone here seems so nice! But do you have any ideas why we are here? I got nothing."

"I was actually talking about it with November and Bravo earlier, but none of us had any idea. November said that she asked a few of the others too, but they didn't know either." I should have known that he wouldn't have the answers, but it never hurts to ask, right?

Suddenly, the voice of the small little bear rang throughout the room. "Y'all done getting to know one another? I hope so! Cause that was boring! B-O-R-I-N-G! BORING!" The bear popped out of nowhere and started walking around like he owned the place. "I almost died of boredom! Blah, blah, blah, yak, yak, yak." Then the bear yawned.

"Now, I'm sleepy." The bear rubbed the sleep from its eyes. "So...you guys ready for the super awesome game I have planned? Huh? Come on! Show those hands!" I have no idea what is going on, but as I looked around me, some of us actually raised our hands, and I don't know if that was good or not.

"Oh! I see we got some players! The rest of you guys really need to lighten up, get any heavier and you guys will sink to the bottom of the Marianas Trench! But hey, free swimming lessons."

"What-" Whatever words I tried to say got stuck in my throat. I swallowed the sudden feelings that swelled up and continued. "What type of game is it anyway?"

"Upupupupu, I'm glad you asked, _really_ glad you asked." The bear's paws covered its mouth as it swayed from side to side, giggling like a schoolgirl who's crush finally asked them out. "Well, you see, it's a game on intimacy, if you catch my drift."

"H-huh?" W-what was this bear suggesting?

"Hm? What's wrong? Oh, no, no. Get your filthy minds out of there, not that type of intimacy, stupid lovesick teens and their hormones." It mumbled the last part, but loud enough to clearly be heard. "The intimacy of **DEATH!** Huzzah!"

* * *

 **A/N: So that's everyone's introductions out of the way. Nice and quick like, wouldn't you say? Maybe.**

 **As I'm sure you've noticed, you can't tell who is who. It** _ **is**_ **an anonymous game after all! Well, I'm sure some of you can easily tell which is yours, since a couple of them are rather distinct. Oh well. Keep it secret keep it safe!**

 **I'm curious to see what you guys think of the cast so far, even if you've only seen them briefly. Maybe some of you can even guess who has what talent? Who knows!?**

 **Anyway, I'll be doing review replies from the next chapter on, so if you have any comments, questions, or concerns, feel free to drop a review. If you want.**


	3. Meet the Game

**A/N: Hello again. It's me. I'm back. Many questions you may have, but at the end they are maybe answered. Up here is merely review replies.**

 **Ziggymia123: Ho ho, you found them huh? Well I'm not super surprised to be honest, they are your own creation after all. And yeah, I can predict many Romeo and Juliett jokes in the future for those two.**

 **AnonChan1: Oh my, you sure wrote a lot about them all! Man, it sure is gonna be tough making sure I don't accidently leak anything about who they all are.**

 **aWasTooShort: Thank you for sending them in! Ho boy, 'different' is certainly one way to put it, I'll say that much!**

 **KISL: I'll counter your late review with a late update! Yeah, we took it pretty literal when it came to being anonymous. It's nice to see what you think of this rag tag grouping of Ultimates!**

 **Okie-dokie, that's that. Time to get on to the main act.**

* * *

When I had woken up in a cold, isolated, and dark place; fear was the first thing I felt. It was only a natural reaction, right? There was no reason for me to react any other way… I would hope so, anyways.

After blindly panicking around for what felt like hours, I saw that there were others stuck in this place just like me. Relief was what I felt at the time. Again, that was another natural reaction, there no reason for me to react any other way… right?

I continued to stare blankly ahead of me as I heard shouts of outrage everywhere. Was this a normal reaction? Not reacting at all, was it normal? It didn't feel normal to me.

"Intimacy of death…?" I whispered hoarsely as the voices around me continued to shout. I decided that I should stop being selfish about my own confusion and see how everyone else appears to be taking it.

Alfa looked scared, frozen in place, no voice coming from her mouth. Who could blame her? I certainly feel the same way.

Bravo didn't look like he believed the claim. If he felt like he was in danger, I know for certain he would've been shouting, which he wasn't doing currently.

Delta, contrary to what I expected, looked pretty skeptical himself. He kept writing in that notepad of his, but it looked like he didn't know quite what to say as he kept scribbling out what he was originally going to say.

India looked like she was deep in thought, her leg bent as she brought a hand to where her chin would be. It doesn't look like she scares easily. I couldn't help feeling envious of that.

Juliett was shaking pretty badly, poor guy. Interestingly, he was trying to ask that sick bear some questions, I couldn't hear them though because others were shouting.

Kilo was one of the shouters. She didn't shout in fear though, it was unmistakably out of anger. I assume that she was shouting really loudly so that it was her voice that would be heard.

Mike looked more confused than anything else. She kept tilting her head side to side, as if looking at the disgusting bear from different angles would help her understand the situation. I doubt it did.

November looked like she was doing her best to comfort to Alfa, who was frozen in shock, and Papa, oh Papa.

Papa, the poor boy, continued to stifle uncontrollable sobs as November continued to pat him on the back in a comforting manner. Of course he was scared, he was just told that he was potentially going to have to get up and personal with death of all things!

Romeo was another shouter, declaring that he would protect everyone from death while he continued to verbally abuse the black and white bear with less than pleasing images put in my head. At least his heart was in the right place.

Tango, disturbingly, laughed maniacally; as if the bear had told some hilarious joke. I wish he'd tell me what the joke was, I'm sure not laughing.

Uniform seemed… Stiffly robotic? It didn't look like she thought anything of the situation as she waited for an explanation for the current situation.

Victor was another shouter, though it wasn't comprehensible shouting like Kilo or Romeo, he just seemed to be shouting for the sake of it, as if he didn't fully understand why everyone was shouting in the first place.

Whiskey seemed calm, but the clenching of his fists told me that if he could, he would punch the bear's hideous outie belly button out of its disgusting stomach.

Zulu, while she didn't shout, spat some… Incredibly vulgar insults at the bear while she continued to give him the middle finger. I'm ashamed to admit that it got a chuckle out of me despite the situation.

The bear cleaned its ear as everyone continued to shout. "You guys done yet?" he asked, unfazed by the shouts and the screams.

"Oh fuck off!" Zulu shouted as she had finally had enough, turning her body away so that she wasn't facing anybody.

"Grouchy," he checked his claw before flicking off whatever was on it. "Okay, so, anyone else got issues? Or can we move this shindig along?"

"Oh, I see, you're gonna tell us this is one big joke? Not my kinda humour, but you do you." Bravo thought aloud as he shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

The bear tilted its head in Bravo's direction. "Think what you want to think, but I think you guys would really enjoy the intimacy of death." It mused, getting off the ground and pulling itself onto a chair.

"Intimacy of death?" India murmured. "You're using that term again, what do you mean by that?" I'm relieved someone else asked the question, I don't think I would've been brave enough to ask.

"It's exactly as it sounds!" the bear put its small, stubby arms high into the air. "You and death get to be real close! And you guys are going to be each other's matchmaker!"

"What is the meaning of this you cretin!" Whiskey shouted with authority as he pointed a finger at the bear. I finally grew the courage to ask my own question.

"What even is your n-name?" If I could've face-palmed, I would've. Stupid stutter, giving away how scared I truly am.

"Huh? Didn't I introduce myself?" The bear scratched its head. "Or was that just deja vu?"

November huffed in annoyance. "No, you have not, now please give us a clear understanding to the situation at hand."

The bear than placed its hands on its hips. "The name's Monokuma! M-O-N-O-K-U-M-A!" The red light of his left eye glowed up a bit. "And if you guys still aren't understanding this simple concept of 'intimacy of death' and 'being each other's matchmakers' then I guess I have to spell it out for you idiots."

Monokuma coughed into his paw. "What this is, is a killing game!"

For a second, I swear, time just stopped. Unfortunately, that one second was too fickle for me to understand whether time actually did stop or not.

Kilo groaned. "Killing game? Seriously? Is this going to be some battle royale shit or what?"

Juliett finally found the courage to speak up. "I d-don't t-think it's l-like t-that!"

"Then what is it like?" Mike asked curiously, her tone still confused.

"Well," the bear began, "It's nothing like a battle royale...for the most part I guess. When you think battle royale, you think free-for-all, and while that is true for the most part, there are limits to this 'battle royale' as you call it."

Monokuma looked over each and every Ultimate in the building. "You guys are going to kill each other, plain and simple. Of course, I am going to add rules to this game. Break a rule and get punished, and trust me, you don't want to get punished. I will be handing out those rules shortly which will explain the killing game more thoroughly."

"Getting punished by some puny panda? What a laugh." Victor spoke with arrogance as he tried to stand tall to seem intimidating.

Uniform surprisingly intervened. "I would not take his warnings lightly," she told everyone eerily.

The black and white bear proceeded to giggle in his hands. "Upupupupu, you should listen to her, sounds like she has some actual brains in that head of hers."

Delta, who had been writing something for a while, finally showed his cutesy written message. "Why put us in a game like this? Why choose us specifically? Your goal doesn't make any sense."

"Oh, you guys don't need to know my goal, it's quite childish actually." Monokuma held his stomach as he smiled. "Just don't worry about it and focus on killing each other."

Alfa looked like she was finally recovering from her shock. "I h-hate to admit t-this! But I am t-the e-epitome of c-childish and even I w-wouldn't put us in a g-game like this!" she stuttered.

"At least you're aware of it." Whiskey shrugged, causing Alfa to scowl in slight annoyance.

"Don't pay any mind to the peanut gallery." Tango told Monokuma, pointing a thumb at both Alfa and Whiskey, both of which shouted in offense. "Tell us how to win this game!" The guy cheered. Hearing him cheer about how to play a death game caused a bit of bile to rise in my throat.

"Finally, someone ready to play!" Monokuma cheered along with Tango. "It's quite easy. So easy even a moron could do it! Even a fish on land could do it...with some effort. All you guys gotta do is **kill each other**." the bear's grin seemed sharper then before, the rings in left, zig-zag eye were more noticeable and the room seemed to be colder than before.

Kilo tapped her foot impatiently. "Oh my God, you've been telling us to kill, but can you actually get to the specifics and stop with the stalling!?" She shouted incredulously. November nodded in agreement.

"Wow...are you guys really that braindead?" He asked in disbelief.

To emphasize his point, Mike spoke up. "I'm like, still really confused about everything..."

The bear faced away from them, muttering things like, "How stupid can these kids get? Killing is killing, it should be easy to understand, right? What are teachers teaching these kids? What are the parents doing? Guess I gotta explain what killing is to these idiots." Surely, he must be saying this loud enough for us to hear.

India decided to speak up. "We understand the concept of killing, but you make it sound like there's more to it than just 'killing' would my assumption be correct?"

The bear faced back towards them. "Hmm, I could say WRONG! But, sure, your assumption is correct." Monokuma's attention was re-focused on everyone now. "Stabbing, strangling, chopping, poisoning, drowning, dropping a piano on their unexpected head! All methods to take a life is fine for this killing game! But of course if you take a life, kill your fellow man, and get away with it without being caught, there's a special prize waiting for the killer!"

Tango jumped up in excitement. "Can I kill someone now!?"

"D-don't joke a-about that!" Papa sniffed.

November took the initiative. "You mentioned rules, right? Surely you wouldn't mind telling us what they are."

Monokuma laughed to himself. "Sure! You could kill someone now, but if you don't, then you'll lose immediately. I like you, never change." Monokuma then turned to November and the smile seemed more sinister. "Yes, I will gladly tell you these rules, and make sure to follow them, cause if you break _any_ of them, you might not wake up tomorrow."

Monokuma then started talking, but because he was speaking so fast, none of us were able catch any of the rules. It frustrated me that he was toying with us like this, but I also realized that lashing out would do no favours for our situation.

"You better start telling us the rules more clearly or else I'll-"

Kilo didn't get to finish her sentence as Delta had tugged on her arm. After catching her attention, he showed her his notepad with all the rules on them. Everyone started crowding around him, making the poor guy stumble.

Rule #1: Participants are forbidden from leaving the boundaries of the facility. Those who leave the facility will be met with immediate punishment. Otherwise, participants are free to explore at their own discretion.

Rule #2: During their stay, participants are forbidden from stating their true names or Ultimate talents. Committing either of these actions will result in immediate punishment.

Rule #3: Please do not remove your suits during your stay at the facility; it is extremely cold and the suits are not easy to put on once removed. No one may assist someone in putting their suit back on if they remove it.

Rule #4: Attacking Monokuma is forbidden; violence against him will be punished accordingly.

Rule #5: Sleeping outside of your assigned quarters will be met with immediate punishment.

Rule #6: Graduation clause: Simply kill a fellow participant without being discovered!

Rule #7: More rules can be added if Monokuma sees it fit.

The bear whistled seeing the kid write down the rules. "Nice work there kid." He sounded a little impressed.

Delta shuffled uncomfortably in place as he tried to make himself invisible.

Looking at the rules, I personally didn't see a problem with them, as they made sense to me, but others did seem to have issues with them.

India sounded a little annoyed as she pointed to one of the rules. "Rule 6, you keep enforcing that rule, but what makes you so sure we'd commit murder in the first place?" She asked, slightly smug as she stared down Monokuma.

"Oh, I have ways little missy." Despite smiling cheerfully, his grin seemed demonic as he swayed side to side.

I looked over the rules once more, Rule 6 precisely. What was the graduation clause? "Umm, what do you mean by 'Graduation Clause'?" I asked a little hesitantly.

"Ah, good eye there, Echo." He stopped swaying as he coughed into his paw. "Okay, listen up. The graduation clause is your ticket out of here! Basically, all of you are trapped here!"

"Duh," Zulu muttered spitefully. "Rule 1 already says that, can you get to the fucking point?"

The bear vacantantly stared right at Zulu. "No. I'm not talking about that. Yes, you are trapped here, but you are trapped here forever! Til the day you all grow old and pass away due to old age, that kind of trapped."

"That's some bullshit!"

"T-trapped!?"

"I don't wanna be here!"

I was getting a little dizzy as my head started to pound- this is the worst headache I've had in awhile. It doesn't help that this stupid helmet is on my head, so I can't even adjust my head comfortably!

"Yep, have fun living the rest of your lives trapped here, unable to venture out into the rest of the world wearing those suits." The bear then sat on the chair he was standing on, kicking his legs as he did so. "No family, no friends, nothing. Just you guys here. Nothing else, nothing more."

"Until we kill?" Uniform asked nonchalantly. I couldn't help staring at her in disgust, being able to say that so casually.

Monokuma nodded his head. "Yep, until you kill and get away with it. It'll be boring if you were caught."

Despite no one liking this game, it seems like almost everyone understood the rules.

Bravo looked agitated with the bear. "If you're gonna continue with this joke, then I suggest you piss off, you're getting on my nerves!"

"Oh, I'm so scared!" The bear cried in a mocking tone. "Maybe I'll get on your nerves some more? Or maybe...I'll show you something _special_."

"F-freedom!?" Papa looked hopeful.

"Upupupu, no, no. Something more special than that." Monokuma hopped off the chair and walked around the corner, before coming back holding a nicely decorated box tied with a red ribbon. "Did you kids miss me? I know you guys have low attention spans, so I made sure to come back ASAP."

"What's in the box?" Mike asked curiously as she tried to look at it from different angles. "It's square, got polka dots, and a cute red ribbon. I say we open it!"

The bear chuckled. "Feel free! Feel free! It's a present to die for, that's for sure! Or should I say, knock you dead? Ah well, open! Open!" He then handed the present over.

That was enough to put Mike off of opening it as she stood behind a couple of others. Tango however, jumped at the opportunity and grabbed the box. He shook the box a little, before looking disinterested. "This is all on you Papa!" He then threw the box towards the man who frantically caught it. Without any objections, Papa opened the box.

The sight of what was in the box was enough to make Papa faint.

"Bastard!" Whiskey cried, shaking his fist in anger. I wasn't doing too well myself, if I could look at myself now, I knew I'd turn green, I mean, who wouldn't?

After witnessing a _rotting head_ jump out of the box, like those Jack-in-the-Box you'd see at carnivals.

"This is so sick," I couldn't help muttering as the smell of flesh really made my stomach churn.

"Dude, I'd never have this at a party..." Victor said distastefully as he turned away.

Monokuma covered his mouth, giggling, but it got louder and louder. The giggling turned into chuckling which turned into laughter, get louder as the seconds passed. "Now that's GOLD!" He praised himself.

Some had decided to ignore the bear in favour of helping Papa sit up in a better position.

"You'd call that gold? Well, you have no taste whatsoever then, dastardly evil," Romeo commented dryly as he tried to comfort a crying Juliett. Ironic, considering the situation.

"I hope you guys like this _present_ ," The bear smiled at all of them, like the cat that ate the canary. "Because, who knows, one of you might end up as the next one. Upupupupu."

"Oh that poor head!" Juliett cried out as he continued to hide his head in Romeo's stomach, though how well that would turn out with the suits on is still a mystery.

November successfully got everyone back on track. "Is this all you wish to show us?"

"Yeah, that trick you pulled was kinda petty for someone whose made the effort to make an interesting game!" Tango remarked as he shook his head in disapproval.

"Well you can all blame Bravo for that, I got to show you guys that this is a serious game after all." The bear shook his paw, looking mainly at Bravo as he did, who turned away guiltily. "Whelp, since you guys know this game means business, the game has officially begun!"

No one else looked like they wanted to speak, so I decided to take initiative. "What do we do now…?" I asked cautiously, trying not to anger the bear so that he wouldn't pull a similar stunt to that head.

"Just follow the rules that Delta jotted down and remember to kill someone, otherwise feel free to explore your new homes," The bear waved his hand, seeming bored as he did. "That's about it really."

Was that really it? Then again, the bear said nothing about having to kill each other, but that led to other problems. Don't kill and be stuck here forever til we pass away due to old age, stuck in these suits, or kill and go free into the world. I felt the bile rise again in my throat, why us?

"Well, go on, I know you kids want to explore, and kill, so go and have fun, you brats!" Monokuma dived off his chair and vanished almost immediately.

Looking around the room, it was clear that the monochromed bear had gotten to all of us to some degree.

"That...that cretin!" Whiskey seethed as he visibly shook, he couldn't control himself as he slammed his fists onto one of the tables in the room.

"W-What do we d-do now?" asked Juliett as he was still in Romeo's hold.

I looked back at the jack-in-the-box head that came to a stop with its swinging, and that's when the smell kicked in. "Ugh," complained Zulu. "So that head is a fucking real, decapitated head?" And with that, Juliett hid his head once again.

"Can we throw that away?" Kilo groaned as the longer she stared at the head, the faster the tapping of her foot increased in speed.

Nervously, Papa (who was previously being assisted by some of the others) stood on his own two feet and refused to look at the head. "U-Um, I got a q-question," He stuttered out before pointing at the box, still refusing to make eye contact. "W-Whose head is that a-anyway?" He wavered a little bit as he thought about it.

"That's...that's a good question." India looked back over to the jack-in-the-box. However, it was nowhere to be seen. "Where did it go?"

Juliett's head came out of hiding once more. "I-It's gone?"

"Looks like it. Did the bear take it without our knowing?" November asked but received no replies.

Tring to put on a brave face, I gave a bright smile and faced everyone. "C'mon guys! We can't let that bear tell us what to do! There must be someway out!"

Delta quickly scribbled down a note before showing it that read, "But that breaks one of the rules."

I huffed a little at Delta's reluctance, who shrunk away from my annoyed posture. "That doesn't mean we can just give up! Instead of searching for a way out, we just simply explore our surroundings first, that doesn't sound like a bad idea, right?" I asked everyone, though I mostly pointed it at Delta.

The others shared some looks with one another before Mike spoke up, "Sure! We can still look around this place, there's some gates I want to look at too."

Whiskey nodded his head in agreement. "Excellent suggestion Echo, I suggest we break off into four groups of four and investigate a quadrant of the area we are imprisoned in."

Unsurprisingly, Zulu immediately objected. "What the fuck!? I never said I'd work with you pieces of shit!" She seemed to not be so hot on the idea.

"If this is a game, then there's only one winner." Tango joined in, agreeing to some degree with Zulu. "It's pointless to work in teams when there's only room for number one."

Victor, who hadn't spoken up in a while, argued. "Except that this isn't a game until someone starts it! Personally, I refuse to start this game as this is the worst game I've ever heard of!" He shouted out.

Uniform nodded. "The only way to play this 'game' is by not playing at all." She added her two cents.

"But who knows whether someone's going to start this game or not?" Kilo commented. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if you drew first blood." She pointed a finger at Uniform, who simply sighed in response.

"Pointing fingers isn't going to help things." India shook her head. "If anything, that might just add fuel to the fire."

Alfa didn't say a word as she stood there, perhaps trying to wrap her head around the whole thing. "When Monokuma said killing, he didn't really say it had to be real killing, right? Maybe loopholes could work?" Despite asking that question herself, she didn't seem to believe it.

"That's an interesting thought." November pondered, "But something tells me that Monokuma isn't merely going to accept a fake death as a killing," She brought a hand to her chin. "However, I do believe Alfa is on the right track of attempting to find loopholes, it would be best to discuss it after our exploration."

Whiskey huffed staring right at the troublemaker that was Alfa before turning his head away, "Sure." was the only thing he said on that.

People were starting to get impatient, so I thought it best to instigate our investigation. "Right! To make this fair for everyone, whoever wants to be alone, raise your hand."

Tango and Zulu immediately brought their hands up. With a little bit of thought, Uniform shrugged as she raised her hand. Kilo also raised her hand, "Nothing personal to everyone here, I just don't think I should trust any of you just yet." Kilo made the intentions of her decision clear.

After fairly splitting the people between the loners and the people who wanted to work together; I cleared my throat. "We should probably go along with Whiskey's suggestion of exploring in quadrants. So… four groups of three is probably for the best."

Whiskey nodded his head in approval.

"Come on Delta, let's go." Whiskey left no time for Delta to respond as he grabbed Alfa by her wrist, tight. "You too, troublemaker."

"Huh? Why me? Ow! Let go!" Alfa tried to get out of Whiskey's grip as they left the room with Delta quickly hurrying after them with his notepad close to his chest.

Romeo sighed a little dreamily. "Your authority throughout this troublesome mess has been truly admirable, leader." He quipped, pointing a finger at me.

I blushed a pink hue, never really being praised except for my looks before. "R-really?" I heard Zulu in the background gagging, but I didn't take notice of it.

"Of course it has, love," Romeo encouraged. He then held Juliett by the shoulders and linked arms with Papa. "I'll look after these damsels in distress! Don't you worry!" Pathetically enough, Juliett nor Papa objected to that claim as Romeo dragged them off in a random direction.

Zulu continued to make gagging sounds even after Romeo had left. "Well that was disgusting." She groaned. "So can you six sort out your teams so I can finally leave?"

Mike bounced at the opportunity at once. "Obviously me, Victor, and Bravo are besties now, so we'll make another group!"

Victor whooped. "Party on sister!" He shouted, sharing a high five with Mike.

"Can't live without me already?" Bravo's arrogantly voiced as he threw both arms around Victor and Mike, forcing Victor to crouch as he was taller than the other two.

"You still owe me for that bet earlier." Mike cheerfully said towards both of them rather than just Bravo.

Both boys groaned as Mike dragged them off somewhere.

"Guess that leaves us three." November turned to face both India and I. "Shall we begin our exploration?"

"Yeah, buzz off already, I wanna go and win this thing!" Tango whined like a child would.

"Come on, let's go." India said as she began to walk away as we followed.

It was uncomfortably silent between the three of us as we continued to walk outside. Like the last time I was here, it was still dark. "Why do you think Monokuma decided to announce the game during nighttime?" I attempted to break the silence. "Seems kinda odd."

India shrugged as November was the one to reply. "We were all together when he announced it," she began. "It could simply be for that reason. We did arrive at different times."

"And the fact we're out here in the arctic of all places," India added. "Why is our 'game' here I wonder?"

Now that I stopped to think about it, why are we out here? It was quite obvious the bear had kidnapped us, but why the arctic?

"It's quite clear that when the bear brought us here, nighttime could of been our arrival." November continued the conversation. "He probably brought us here as there is a lack of people, especially witnesses and ways to escape his game." She then laughed lightly. "Not that we should worry about the bear's motives in the first place, I don't think It'll do us any good racking our brains for an answer that we don't have enough information on."

"Yet." India replied immediately.

What November said was true, it was no use as of yet to try and finish a puzzle if you're missing a few pieces.

On our walk, we soon came towards the rows of buildings. "Guess this is our stop." I heard India say as we approached one of the doors.

I recognized the door. "I remember this door, I attempted to enter a lot of these buildings when I was by myself for a short period of time… Now that Monokuma has explained this 'game' to us, maybe It'll open?"

"It doesn't hurt to try!" November cheered as she placed her hand on the scanner. To my surprise, it actually worked!

"Access Granted. Welcome to your room. Codename: November. Please enjoy your stay." A robotic female sounding voice said, surprising all three of us.

"Freaky." I muttered. "Are you okay with us entering your room?" I asked November. It wouldn't be fair to use her room as a scapegoat if she didn't want anything personal getting out.

To my relieve, November nodded her head cheerily. "I don't mind!"

I nodded my head as I noticed November staring at India intently, making the girl shuffle in place.

"Is there something you wish to ask me…?" India uncomfortably asked.

November stayed silent for a moment before speaking. "You don't really like your codename, do you?"

I widened my eyes in surprise as India recoiled in shock before composing herself. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't prod at me, thank you very much." She muttered curtly.

November sighed as she mumbled a quick apology.

I couldn't have these two at each other's throats, I'd have to distract them! "Let's explore November's room then!" I cheered as I marched on in, the other two girls following behind me.

As I expected, the room looked fresh and unused; the room was fairly long and narrow, with plain white plaster walls, which I hadn't been expecting from the building's metal exterior. A bed covered in a grey comforter, held up by a metal bed frame, lay on the left side of the room. The room was lit up by a light panel on the ceiling in the center of the room. However, I couldn't help but notice the large monitor opposite the bed, next to the door.

"Bed's a little plain, but I appreciate how comfy they make our rooms." November said in awe as she looked around.

India had her doubts. "It isn't that comfortable, besides, why bother giving us a comfortable room if we can't even escape these suits?" I decided to ignore both of them as my eyes had caught something interesting.

"Wait, there's something else I want to look at." I pointed out the desk that was set up on the other side of the room, with a simple plastic chair. More important, however, was the monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

I bounced on the spot excitably. "Do you think we can contact someone to save us!?" I asked, my voice a little too hopeful.

"It doesn't hurt to try!" November agreed with the same level of excitement.

India sighed. "Let's keep it realistic, I doubt that whoever is orchestrating this game would allow us access to the outside that easily."

I ignored her as I attempted to turn on the screen. The only problem was that it wasn't turning on. "C'mon, work already!" I grumbled as I repeatedly pressed the power button.

India looked unimpressed. "Yes, pressing the same button over and over will definitely yield different results." She commented sarcastically. She was starting to get on my nerves.

"That's not nice, India!" November scolded, causing India to cringe at the use of her codename. "It's the thought that counts, why don't you take a page out of Echo's book?" She suggested, almost slyly.

India turned her head away, but only slightly. "Sure," She responded, sounding a little put off. As that was happening, I turned my attention back to the screen.

"It doesn't look like it wants to turn on." I muttered, finally giving up.

"Monokuma must be behind this," November brought up as she looked over what I was doing. "Giving us hope of possible communication and then taking that immediately away."

India spoke up to add in her opinion. "It would be bad for the person behind all of this if we had access to the outside world."

"If the computer didn't work, why don't we try turning on that monitor, the one next to the door?" November suggested as she pointed at said monitor.

I was starting to cheer up. "Sure! I hope the power button works on it!"

We walked over to the monitor as November began to inspect it. A noise of disappointment came from her after a few moments. "It doesn't look like this monitor has any buttons whatsoever."

India tsk'd. "We can probably assume that only the bear has access to the monitor."

I brought a hand to my chin. "I wonder what It'll be used for though?" I pondered curiously.

India shrugged. "It doesn't look like it matters too much, we should probably go back and inform the others of our findings."

"Due to how plain the room looks, we can probably assume we can all just choose whatever room we want and then it's ours." November observed. "I mean, what were the chances we'd pick the door that was designated to me?" She joked slightly.

I said, "I don't think that's it actually, when I was trying all the rooms earlier, one had an additional message telling me it was my room. I think we actually got really lucky there. If I'm remembering where my room was, I think my room's across from yours, November."

November nodded her head. "Interesting, that is duly noted! Thanks for the heads up, Echo!"

"Let's test that theory then." India suggested as she started walking out of November's room. It looks like when you were leaving, no matter who it was, could leave without an identification; interesting.

November and I hurried as India was taking long strides to the building next to November's. Room. As soon as we caught up with her, India placed her hand on the scanner. "Access Denied." Came the robotically female voice.

"Looks like you were wrong." India nonchalantly directed at November, who seethed in place.

I hurriedly interrupted. "L-let's just see if we can find India's room- oh." I stopped. I looked back towards November's door and discovered that her codename had appeared so that we can identify it now.

"That's a relief." November smiled. "Now we won't have to guess whose is who once we've scanned our doors."

"That makes sense, I should've looked more closely, but Zulu's name must've been here beforehand." India noted.

"She's visited her room then." I observed.

November then pointed to the building next to Zulu's room. "That door has Uniform's name! She's probably been in her room too."

With that in mind, we continued to scan doors. The building next to Uniform's room denied us entrance, but when we went to the building after that, there was a notable difference, "Access Denied." came a robotically male voice.

"Huh? Why did the voice suddenly change genders?" I questioned, slightly confused.

November gave her thoughts. "Perhaps it correlates to our genders?"

"If that is the case, then we can narrow down 3 buildings to which room is mine." India said as she started heading back, except she was going towards my room.

I hurried along to catch up with her, November not very far behind me. India made her way to the building next to my room and placed her hand on the scanner. "Access Granted. Welcome to your room. Codename: India. Please enjoy your stay."

"I get the arrangement now!" I exclaimed.

"One side will neatly have four girls and four boys while the other side will have four girls and four boys. So currently, one side is occupied by: November, Zulu, Uniform, and the other five are unknown. We just know that they belong to one other girl and four other guys."

I paused, collecting my thoughts. "The other side then has me, India and six others that are unknown, we just know that they belong to two other girls and four other guys."

The other two girls were staring at me. "Uhm, did I say something weird?" I asked awkwardly.

November shook her head frantically. "No! No! The contrary! That was a super smart and easy to follow explanation!" She praised, making me blush a pink hue.

India got us back on track. "We should go back and inform the others of our findings and hopefully learn a little bit more about where we are."

November and I nodded in agreement as we walked back to where we all first met. Well, nearly all of us. I didn't expect the people who had gone alone to be there.

We made our way back to where we all first met up with each other. It looks like we were the first ones back.

"It looks like we'll have to wait for the others to return." India groaned.

So we waited. The atmosphere between us all was uncomfortable as I got the sense that India and November didn't like each other that much. It's a shame since I think they're both great people in their own unique ways.

After an agonizing twenty minutes, Victor's group came back.

"Ha! I win again boys! I knew we wouldn't be the first ones here." Mike most likely grinned behind her mask as the other two trudged along in defeat.

Bravo huffed. "I bet you stalled on purpose!" He accusingly pointed at Mike, not that it bothered her.

"Hey! We had a lot of fun, that's a win-win for me!" Victor whooped as he laughed, Mike laughing right after.

"Took you long enough." I quipped jokingly, seeing the blossoming friendship of those three. It must've been nice.

"Hey, Echo!" Mike was the first one to wave in our direction. "November, India! What have you guys found? Something exciting?"

I was about to respond, but India spoke up first. "It's best if we wait for everyone to return, that way we can avoid repeating what we've discovered."

Bravo nodded at that. "I agree. That seems to be the best course of action."

"Well I hope they come quickly," Mike settled down somewhat as she found somewhere comfortable to wait.

Not too long, Romeo's group came in next. Romeo leading the group with Juliett and Papa following behind.

"We're back!" Romeo walked in leading his pack, Juliett and Papa kept to the back, moving slower than Romeo. "Did you miss me, darling?" He gazed at India.

"No." Her reply was kind of blunt.

"W-We did some s-searching and-" Papa started but soon held his tongue, unable to finish his sentence as I looked over to see Victor.

Victor was holding up his hand, silencing Papa. "Hold that thought, let's wait for Whiskey's group to arrive."

Juliett looked around. "T-They shouldn't be too long."

We heard footsteps and when we looked to see who it was, many of us believing it to be Whiskey's group, however it was one of the ones who went off on their own. Specifically it was Uniform.

"I've come to see how you've all gotten along." She explained.

Soon after Uniform arrived, so did Tango. "Did y'all miss me? The soon to be winner of this game?"

No one said anything to that.

"Bummer," was his only reply before patiently waiting, knowing that one more group was missing.

There was one group left, even two of the four loners came back before Whiskey's group. I got a bit worried, knowing how Whiskey didn't particular like Alfa all that much.

"They're taking their time." Victor noted, and that was the worrying part.

"Shall I go look for them?" November was the one that asked us, already on her way, offering to go look, but before anyone could say anything, we all heard shouting.

"YOU DAMN BRAT!" That voice, that was definitely Whiskey!

Alfa flew into the room like a bat out of hell, crashing into November who braced just in time not to fall over. Without an apology, Alfa had now positioned herself behind November as Whiskey stormed into the room, followed by a meek looking Delta, who quickly joined the rest of us, trying to be unnoticed.

Whiskey was noticeably pissed, making a beeline for Alfa immediately.

"Whoa, hold on there Whiskey." Romeo got in front of him, stopping his rush to Alfa, at least for the time being.

"Chill, dude!" Victor exclaimed dramatically as Bravo rushed off to help Romeo fend off Whiskey from attacking Alfa.

"W-what's going on?!" I intervened, trying to find out where the hostility was coming from.

"She's scum on this earth, that's what!" Whiskey roared as he kept lunging Alfa.

"G-get o-over it a-already!" Alfa sniffed as she moved over to India who was a much taller barricade than November.

"Get over it? GET OVER IT?" Whiskey repeated louder. "Because of you! We almost contaminated or destroyed our food supply!"

"It's c-called a p-prank! L-learn to t-take a j-joke!" Alfa wailed even louder.

"EVERYONE CALM DOWN" I shouted at the top of my lungs.

Everybody shut up after that, not expecting an outburst from me. I was maybe scared, but I refuse to let friends turn on each other without properly discussing it! I then turned my attention to Delta, who shrunk at my gaze.

"Do you have an explanation for this?" I asked him as calmly as I could.

Delta hastily scribbled something down on his notepad before showing me. "We went and found a garden and Alfa got away from Whiskey and immediately hid somewhere in there. Later, when we finished our investigation, Alfa came out and almost knocked Whiskey into what seems to be a purifier."

Alfa immediately jumped into the conversation. "It w-was o-only an a-accident! I o-only wanted to s-scare him! He's t-trying to m-make me look l-like the b-bad g-guy! BUT I'M NOT!" Alfa wailed loudly, prompting a few others near her to cover their ears.

Uniform looked between Alfa and Whiskey before setting their sights on Delta. "How accurate is this? Which side to believe?"

Delta looked uncomfortable as he was about to begin writing in his notepad, but Whiskey interrupted. "I already told you! That criminal is trying to kill us all!" He lunged at Alfa again, but was held back by Bravo and Romeo.

"AM NOT!" Alfa retorted.

"Let's all calm down!" The voice of November called out.

I quickly found myself agreeing with her, "T-that's right! If we just get angry, we're just playing into that bear's hands!"

Tango however snickered at that. "I think you mean, into that bear's _bare_ hands." As Tango snickered at the pun, it seemed Mike joined in with chuckling.

Thankfully that pun Tango made seemed to calm down Alfa, not by a lot as she was still sniffling, but the sudden light-hearted mood created by Tango did cut the tension down a bit, sadly, it didn't really stop Whiskey from being pissed at Alfa.

Suddenly, he stopped struggling. "Fine." He breathed deeply. "Let that little parasite kill you all." He then turned to Alfa. "Justice will be served, I guarantee it." He said intimidatingly, causing Alfa to shake in place. Tired of being around everyone Whiskey promptly left, leaving everyone rather confused.

"I have to give him some credit," Uniform was the first to speak after the silence Whiskey created. "I honestly thought of him to be a lone wolf and for him to go it alone like me and Tango, so kudos to him for trying and staying with a group to prioritise everyone's safety."

Tango had his hands behind his head as he tapped his foot, his sight seemed to be lingering on where Whiskey left. "He should've known that playing in a team during a free-for-all game is a bad idea."

"U-Um, w-what do we d-do now?" Asked Juliett, gaining everyone's attention.

"Well, I suppose it's time to share our findings." I brought up, now it was a matter of who would go first.

"We'll go first." Victor volunteered his group. Nobody had any objections, so he continued.

"We found a rec room with a lot of games! It's kind of why we were late, Mike ended up winning both bets, one where she predicted we wouldn't be the first group here, and one where she ended up winning a game of darts..." Victor groaned at that.

"Needless to say, we're not making anymore bets with you." Bravo directed at Mike, who laughed mockingly.

"Why? Scared you'll lose to a girl again?" Mike teased.

"Yup." "What do you think?" Victor and Bravo said respectively.

"Anyways, there were lots of games to play from, like snooker, or darts, chess, shogi; other stuff..." Bravo trailed off.

"I-I think we get it..." Papa muttered out, speaking in what felt like a while.

I looked over to Papa. "Why don't you go next?" I asked him, Papa looked startled at my request.

"I, umm, ahh..." he mumbled, struggling to come up with any words. Lucky for him, Romeo came to the rescue.

"We ended up in some sort of kitchen." Romeo began.

Papa nodded his head, agreeing with Romeo's words.

Juliett then spoke. "There weren't many solid foods, this is because of our suit functions."

Romeo gagged. "There was a note waiting for us, saying that if we wanted to eat, we'd have to blend our food because our helmet's don't open our mouth section, it only makes a little hole so that we can suck liquids from a straw." He shuddered.

"Dude! That sucks balls!" Victor cried out in dramatic agony. "Eating is one of my favourite things to do! How else am I supposed to eat tasty food now?!"

I grimaced. "I'm sure it won't be that bad! We just have to try it first, ya know?"

Victor gave a thumbs up. "Sure thing."

I looked over to Delta and Alfa. Delta looked incredibly uncomfortable while Alfa was still calming down. "We should probably leave the garden for another time..." I told everyone else, Delta giving me a grateful look.

Finally, I explained the adventure India, November and I went on. Everyone listened intently as I explained it in a lot of detail, excluding the slight hostility between India and November, no reason to throw shade when it hasn't even escalated yet.

"Interesting..." Romeo mused as he listened to my story. "Your voice is so soothing to listen to..." He said dreamily. I snorted as Juliett lightly slapped his arm.

"What?" He asked confused at both the slap and how I turned my attention away from him, he seemed to be quite confused at how his flirting suddenly had no effect.

Suddenly, an ominous static was heard.

" **One, Two! One, Two! This is an announcement! It is now 11 pm, go the fuck to sleep!"**

What?

"That's not possible..." I muttered. I looked out the window of the building we were currently in. "It's still dark." I observed.

"W-wait!? It's been dark all day?!" Papa questioned, standing next to my right.

Romeo rushed to my other side. "That simply isn't possible..." he mumbled, completely awestruck with what he was seeing. "Yet… I'm grateful, the stars really are pretty at night..." Romeo whispered, most likely wanting to keep that to himself.

Frowning to myself, I clapped my hands together to get everyone's attention. "I think we've all had an exhausting day." I paused. "The best thing we can all do is try our best to get some sleep, right?"

To my relief, murmurs of agreement were voiced throughout the room. After saying goodnight to everyone, well, almost everyone; I exited the main building and went towards my own room. Placing my hand on the scanner, I was met with. "Access Granted. Welcome to your room. Codename: Echo. Please enjoy your stay."

Entering my room, I looked around the space that was near identical to November's room. Maybe I should go hunt for some accessories to put in my room? At least It'd make it more interesting. I decided to try and lie down on my bed to see if I could get myself into a more comfortable position.

It took a lot of tossing and turning, but I think I found a position that seems easy to sleep in with this suit. I sighed as I started contemplating how I was going to wash myself in this thing. This suit in general was making me a little miserable, taking away our rights to a normal daily life. Closing my eyes, a single thought came to mind.

" _Sweet dreams everyone."_

* * *

 **A/N: Are your eyes deceiving you? An update?! Probably.**

 **I can explain. Well, sorta. Between us all being busy with stuff in life, general forgetfulness, and having other stories to write, this story took a bit of a low priority. I hope it doesn't take this long for the next part to come out, but I certainly won't promise fast updates.**

 **So anyway, shout out to zephryr and PainX65 for writing probably like 99% of this chapter. They the heroes. Praise them. Erect a statue of them. Or not. Whatever.**

 **You know the drill: Leave a review with any questions, comments, or concerns if you wanna. Or if you just feeling like yelling at me that's cool too, I guess.**

 **Final thing: There's a poll on my profile for the FTEs. It's also blind because I am taking this anonymous theme too far.**


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